Skicircus prepares for winter 2026/27 with summit gondola, snowmaking upgrades and anniversary celebrations

Austria’s Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn is preparing for winter 2026/27 with a new two-section gondola in Hinterglemm, expanded snowmaking infrastructure and easier valley skiing in Leogang. The developments coincide with celebrations marking 50 years of the Skicircus and a return of men’s Alpine World Cup racing to Saalbach’s Zwölferkogel in February.

For a ski area spanning Salzburg and Tyrol, with 270 kilometres of pistes and 70 lifts, the programme focuses on improving how visitors use the existing network: reaching the summit more directly, returning to the valley on gentler terrain and discovering distinctive runs across its different mountains.

The emphasis is on connections—both the physical links that have shaped the Skicircus over decades and the practical details that make a large ski area easier to navigate.

Reiterkogel gondola extends access to the summit

The headline lift project is the replacement of Hinterglemm’s Reiterkogel gondola, which dates from 1997, with a Doppelmayr 10-seater monocable gondola. Construction began in April 2026, with completion scheduled for November ahead of the winter season.

The important change is not simply newer cabins. A second section will extend the lift directly to the summit, changing access to a mountain promoted as a family-friendly part of the wider circuit.

The new installation will have 71 cabins and a maximum capacity of 2,500 passengers an hour. Over an inclined length of 2,111 metres, it will climb 669 vertical metres, with a journey time of approximately eight minutes and 37 seconds. Its design follows that of the existing 12er KOGEL gondola elsewhere in Hinterglemm.

For families and mixed-ability groups, more direct access should simplify the journey up the mountain. The lift is also intended for summer use, placing it within the region’s wider year-round mountain offering rather than making it solely a winter investment.

Water storage and gentler valley runs

In Leogang, the most substantial addition is the Asitz III reservoir, with a capacity of 60,000 cubic metres. The lift operator says the additional storage will support faster, more efficient snowmaking on lower slopes and improve the reliability of valley descents.

The reservoir is accompanied by changes to the piste network. Blue piste 203, the Forsthof descent, has been upgraded and equipped with a new snowmaking system. A new blue piste, numbered 204, has also been constructed between the Almbahn and Riederfeldlift, again with snowmaking facilities.

Together with improvements made to the Kühbühel descent, piste 201, the previous year, the work creates three upgraded valley runs around the Asitzbahn. The stated priority is greater comfort for less experienced skiers—a useful distinction in a vast interconnected area where the final descent can be as important to a holiday as the choice of terrain higher up.

Saalbach Hinterglemm is also expanding the Schattberg snowmaking reservoir to a capacity of 145,000 cubic metres. These projects add to a substantial existing operation: the Skicircus reports snowmaking coverage on all main pistes, supported by fixed and mobile snowmaking machines and snow lances.

The new storage is intended to improve snow production and piste preparation; it should not be confused with a guarantee of natural snowfall.

Four signature runs put the mountains’ differences in focus

Alongside the engineering work, the Skicircus is introducing “MUST Rides”—short for Most Unique Skicircus Tracks—a collection of four signature descents designed to give visitors a clearer sense of the area’s contrasting terrain. These are established pistes presented under new identities, rather than four newly built runs.

On the Schattberg, Black Beard follows pistes 1b and 1a down the Skicircus’s steepest descent. Its pirate-inspired presentation is playful, but the terrain is aimed at confident skiers looking for a demanding run.

Snow Crystal focuses on piste 36 on the Zwölferkogel, drawing on its role in the 2025 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. It gives recreational skiers the opportunity to experience the mountain that hosted the world’s leading racers, without suggesting that an ordinary piste day replicates World Championship racing conditions.

Leogang’s Panorama Slope takes a different approach. Following Steinberg pistes 211 and 212, it combines broad carving terrain with views of the Leoganger Steinberge and two designated viewing platforms.

The fourth selection, Reckmoos Nord in Fieberbrunn, highlights piste 121. Its north-facing aspect and varied terrain are the defining features, offering a counterpoint to the sunnier slopes elsewhere in the network.

The initiative turns an extensive piste map into a more manageable set of experiences: a steep challenge, a championship mountain, a scenic descent and a shaded Fieberbrunn favourite.

Celebrating the links that created the Skicircus

The anniversary programme looks back at a ski region assembled over successive generations, rather than developed as a single resort.

Saalbach’s first lift opened in 1945, followed by Hinterglemm in 1950. The two were linked in 1968. Leogang opened its first ski lift in 1971, and a connection via Schönleiten and Großer Asitz brought it into the expanding network in 1975, supported by a shared ski pass.

Fieberbrunn, whose lift company began operating in 1958, joined the connected area through the TirolS gondola in 2015. That development extended the Skicircus across the boundary between Salzburg and Tyrol and established its present four-name identity.

The region will hold its 50-year celebrations on 19 December 2026. An adult day pass for the Skicircus will cost €50 on that date, with participating mountain huts hosting music and other entertainment. Skiers will also receive an anniversary pin.

The anniversary is therefore as much about cooperation as infrastructure: separate mountain communities and lift operators developing a shared product while retaining different characters.

World Cup racing returns to the Zwölferkogel

The legacy of the 2025 World Championships will be visible again on 27–28 February 2027, when Saalbach is scheduled to host men’s World Cup downhill and super-G races on the Zwölferkogel.

Fieberbrunn will provide a contrasting competitive spectacle in March, with the FIS Freeride World Tour returning to the Wildseeloder. The event programme lists activities for 4–7 March, within a broader competition weather window of 3–9 March 2027.

Together, the events underline the variety within the same ski area: prepared speed-racing pistes in Hinterglemm and big-mountain freeride terrain in Fieberbrunn.

The winter calendar also includes the Mountain Attack ski-mountaineering race on 15 January, with around 1,000 athletes expected, and the Chasing Slopes Festival on 12–14 March. The latter adds snowboarding to its mix of workshops, equipment tests and community events for its third edition.

Family offers target the next generation

The investment programme is accompanied by offers aimed at making family participation more manageable.

The Saturday Junior XPLORE CARD will cost €15 for eligible children and teenagers born between 2008 and 2020. Younger children born in 2021 or later can use the lifts free with the photo-based miniAlpini Card.

From 20 March to 4 April 2027, children born in 2011 or later can receive a free ski pass when a parent buys a qualifying pass for at least four days. The Easter offer excludes season passes and the SuperSkiCard.

Leogang’s “Kids on Ski” initiative goes further for absolute beginners aged three to five. During selected weeks outside the principal school holidays, participating accommodation providers offer a package incorporating free children’s lessons, equipment rental, ski passes and accommodation in their parents’ room. The offer is tied to participating properties and specified periods, rather than applying to every family visiting the resort.

In Saalbach Hinterglemm, beginner pupils on school ski trips can receive free instruction during promotional periods from 29 November to 19 December 2026 and from 29 March to 4 April 2027. Instructors must be requested through the youth accommodation providers up to a month before arrival.

Spring skiing becomes a season in its own right

March is being presented as more than the final stretch of winter. Earlier lift openings, family offers and mountain events form the “Magic March” programme, designed to encourage visitors to combine morning skiing with longer afternoons around the resort.

From 13 March, Leogang’s scheduled start moves to 7.30am, while skiing in Saalbach Hinterglemm and Fieberbrunn begins from 8am. White Pearl Mountain Days follows from 19–28 March, with around 20 venues hosting a planned 80 international DJs and live acts, alongside food, yoga, breathwork and fitness sessions.

The programme reflects the Skicircus’s broader approach for 2026/27. The new gondola and reservoirs address the mechanics of a ski holiday; redesigned valley routes and family initiatives address confidence and participation; racing and festivals provide reasons to visit at different points in the season.

Fifty years into its shared history, the region’s next chapter is less about adding another name to the map than making the mountains already connected work better together.